Gilpin mailing addresses change in June 

No more Golden 80403 zip code for Gilpin

05/29/2008 - Stock up on postcards, Gilpinites. You have one year to notify your friends and family, bank, credit card and mortgage companies, doctors and health insurance providers, and everyone else who contacts you by U.S. Mail - your address is changing! Those living in Gilpin County from Rollinsville south along the Highway 119 corridor, those along the Highway 46 corridor between Highway 119 and Golden Gate State Park, plus those along South Beaver Creek Road, will be see the city and zip code change on their rural delivery addresses. Post office boxes are not affected.

  At a meeting held May 20^th, approximately 50 Gilpinites, many from north-County, listened as representatives from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) explained that Gilpin rural addresses will change on June 21^st, from Golden 80403 to Black Hawk 80422. Three delivery routes, serving approximately 1,300 Gilpin residents, have been reassigned from the Golden Post Office to Black Hawk’s. Mail will be machine sorted by zip code and trucked to Black Hawk where mail carriers will pick it up and commence delivery. There will be no delay in service, Kathy Mintor, Postal Operations Manager for Area 3 (Black Hawk, Rollinsville and Pinecliffe) reassured, “We want it to be as convenient for you as possible.” Plenty of folks took issue with the “convenience” of the change.

  Business owners noted they will have to change letterhead and notify all of their vendors and customers. Those enrolled in some health insurance plans objected to changing “cities,” as their insurance providers charge more for rural clients (or flat out won’t allow them in the plan) and the Golden address identifies them as metro-area clients. Others took issue with a higher sales tax they say will apply to purchases. With Golden 80403 that rate is 4.1% (1.2% RTD-Jefferson County plus 2.9% Colorado); with a Rollinsville address only the Colorado 2.9% rate applies; and the Black Hawk rate is 6.9% (4.9% city tax plus 2.9% Colorado). Vehicle purchases are excluded from Black Hawk’s city tax. Gilpinites pointed out that purchases made on-line will be taxed according to zip code, which will now be Black Hawk’s, and it’s hard to get sellers to make the distinction between a municipality and unincorporated Gilpin County.

   “Why not a “county” zip code?” one resident asked. The answer: Mail is sorted by zip codes assigned to specific post offices, then delivered from that post office. Only when a zip code area becomes “saturated” is there a “zip split” so that an area has more than one zip code. Gilpin isn’t “saturated” so that’s not going to happen. Besides, trucking all of Gilpin’s mail to Black Hawk is going to save the USPS money in travel time and fuel costs, said Elaine Nelson, Acting Manager of Address Management Systems for Colorado and Wyoming. Currently the USPS is paying carriers “dead head” time, their travel time from the Golden Post Office to Gilpin County where their routes begin. Now carriers will commute to Black Hawk on their own dime, and start their payable hours from there. That’s a savings of 42 miles per day for each of the three routes - more than $30,000 per year. Gas prices are a big expense for the USPS.

   “How about routing the mail from Rollinsville?” asked another. The Rollinsville Post office is a one person operation, he was told, and not equipped to handle carrier delivery. A man asked why the Black Hawk and not the Rollinsville office was improved. It’s hard to get post offices built, said Minter, adding that money is currently going toward buildings in areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. Black Hawk funded the new post office building, she said, and part of the deal was bringing local delivery. According to Black Hawk records, the final construction contract amount for the post office was $1,100,000. The land cost $90,135 and building design probably added another $100,000 (It was included in the $270,000 combined total for the post office and commercial buildings.) North Gilpin folks complained they aren’t Black Hawk residents and don’t want a Black Hawk address. However, as one woman pointed out, for the past seven years Gilpin rural residents have complained they aren’t Golden residents and don’t want a Golden address. Neither really matters. It’s a done deal. Minter and Nelson both explained the USPS isn’t concerned about tax rates, insurance plans or saving the identity of a town. “We’re here to deliver mail,” they said, and it will be delivered from Black Hawk beginning this summer. The USPS plans to have extra staff at the Black Hawk Post Office to make sure Gilpinites are well served. “Well,” one woman said with resignation, “maybe it’s a chance to get clear of all the catalogues and some of the junk mail.” Mail addressed to the Golden 80403 address will be automatically sorted to Black Hawk for one year.